7/31/2019 At the Desk of: November 2011

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At the Deskof :JonAthAnRose

PHOTOGRAPHFORTHEREALDEALBYMAXDWORKIN

Construction in the city is still slow going, but Jonathan Rose, founder of

the eponymous development rm, has a slew of new projects in the pipe-

line. Rose, a third-generation member of the Rose family real estate dynasty,

is opening the 202-unit Via Verde, a mix of affordable rentals and co-ops, this

wint er in th e Sou th Bro nx. Hi s rm wi ll soo n begi n cons truc tio n on a mix ed-

used Harlem project that includes 90 units of affordable housing, a charter

school and ofce space for Harlem RBI, a nonprot that works with inner-c ity

kids. In addition, Jonathan Rose Companies is working on a redevelopment

plan for Newark, N.J., among other projects. The 75-person rm which is

headquartered in NYC, but has ofces in Denver and Albuquerque is also

opening a new ofce in Seattle this month. (The company is not part of Rose

Assoc iate s, hea ded by Jo nath ans bro ther , Adam, a nd his co usin , Amy.) Ro se,

59, works next to his assistant in a small space at his companys headquarters

on the 23rd oor of the Fred F. French Building at 551 Fifth Avenue, but he

often uses this common living room for business. By Jill NooNaN

A photograph of Bob

Dylan from his High-

way 61 recording ses-

sion. It was a seminal al-

bum. And, its a moment

of creativity, Rose says.

This piece by Tibetan artist

Gonkar Gyatso is a collage of

tiny advertising logos and oth-

er pop-culture symbols thatform an image of Buddha. It

transforms all of the cacopho-

nous energies into something

more holistic, says Rose.

This six-volume edition of The Ico-

nography of Manhattan Island was a

gift from Roses late father, Frederick,

who was chairman of Rose Associates

until shortly before he died in 1999.

He used [it] to understand the his-

tory of the places where he was build-

ing, and frequently picked up namesfor his projects, his son says.

In 2003, Rose and his mother,

Sandra, took out this full-page

ad in the New York Times, re-

printing Senator Robert Byrds

speech opposing the U.S. inva-

sion in Iraq. Roses parents were

benefactors for a host of NYC in-

stitutions and projects, includ-

ing the Rose Center for Earth

and Space at the American Mu-

seum of Natural History.

An Albert Einstein photo paired with an image of

John Coltrane. Why are they side by side? They

both rethought the way we think. They were in-

terdependent, rather than linear, thinkers.

A rst-edition copy of

Jacob Riis 1890 book

How the Other Half

Lives. Rose says he dis-

covered Riis as a teen-

ager. His work was

one of the sources that

led to my commitment

to working on poverty

and housing in low-in-

come communities.

A biography of activist and builder

James Rouse, whom Rose called a

hero, a role model and one of the

greatest developers of the 20th cen-

tury. Rouse, the founder of the En-

terprise Foundation, thought about

how the whole community lived.

A model of a dymaxion cube

designed by famed engineer

Buckminster Fuller. The 1940s

prototype was used to create the

domed structures he became

internationally known for.

This table was designed about eight years ago

by a young architect named Sam Chermayeff,

who was Roses intern at the time. The two

went furniture shopping for Roses then-new

ofce, and didnt nd anything they liked, so

Chermayeff designed this table himself.